


A promise for the future

by Alxx



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Dysphoria, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Trans Male Character, Trans akira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 12:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alxx/pseuds/Alxx
Summary: It's been awhile since Akira has been back in his hometown. Making due until he can see everyone again but one person he's more excited to see the girlfriend he left in Tokyo, Hifumi.The one he wishes to spend his life with.





	A promise for the future

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very short Vignette for this ship.
> 
> It's self-indulgenant, as you can see later one on what I mean.
> 
> It's my first time writing since my hiatus and first time writing for this fandom.

**Hifumi:** How’s your week been?

 **Akira:** Same as last, lots of homework and the occasional rumour or whispers about my record.

 **Hifumi:** Hasn’t it been weeks since they cleared you of those charges?

 **Akira:** News travels slowly here.

 **Akira:** Even then, I doubt that would make a difference here if it did.

 **Hifumi:** I’m sorry to hear that.

 **Akira:** It’s okay. I endured worse.

 **Akira:** Rumours have little sway over me anymore.

 **Hifumi:** You’re very strong. I’m sorry I can’t help alleviate it.

 **Akira:** You already do.

 **Hifumi:** oh?

 **Akira:** Getting to text you every night before bed is the highlight of my day.

 **Hifumi:** Oh, Akira...

 **Akira:** I’m serious, Hifumi. Knowing you’re there waiting for me to text, waiting to lend an ear about my troubles and always ready to cheer me up when things look bleak. I’m glad to have a girlfriend that cares so much about me.

 **Hifumi:** Akira, you’re going to make me cry.

 **Akira:** I’m sorry.

 **Hifumi:** No, it’s okay. I’m just happy that you are pleased to hear from me.

 **Akira:** I am.

 **Hifumi:** despite the distance, I feel so close to you.

 **Akira:** I feel the same.

 **Hifumi:** You know, summer break is coming up.

 **Akira:** Yeah, I’m going to my parents if I could come to Tokyo for two weeks.

 **Hifumi:** Will they let you stay for that long?

 **Akira:** I’m hoping so, but I think they’ll be afraid I’d grown roots.

 **Hifumi:** It would be a tragedy.

 **Akira:** To them maybe, but here’s to hoping.

 **Hifumi:** I will be sure to pray for luck on your end.

 **Akira:** Mhmm, thanks.

 **Hifumi:** Of course.

 **Hifumi:** Akira?

 **Akira:** Yes, my Queen?

 **Hifumi:** AKIRA!

 **Akira:** u//v//u

 **Hifumi:** You’re so silly, but seriously. Please do your homework before you go to bed.

 **Akira:** I will don’t worry.

 **Hifumi:** I trust you, but be sure. I’ll be heading to bed now, goodnight. <3

 **Akira:** Goodnight, Queen Hifumi. <3

 **Hifumi:** You’re impossible. I love you.

 **Akira:** Love you too.

* * *

Akira smiled at his phone, he scrolled through the messages once more, and before he set it down, he got an idea. He waited for a bit and thinking Hifumi went straight to bed; he quickly changed her name in the chat to ‘Queen Hifumi’ and his name to ‘General Akira.’ He was sure she wouldn’t notice it until she texted him later or maybe she did see it but was too tired to do anything about it. He chuckled to himself before setting down the phone. He picked up his pencil and resumed his note-taking once more.

It was then Morgana walked into his room. He heard the distinct pattering of pads on the hardwood floor but didn’t turn to face the little black cat.

“Full on love and attention?” Akira chuckled.

“And food!” Morgana chirped.

Within seconds, Morgana had bounded over to him and planted himself on his desk. Akira spared him a glance, seeing that the cat’s stomach was two times the size since he last saw him and how his fur looked neatly groomed.

“Mom fed and combed you?” he inquired.

Morgana nodded. “Your mom knows how to make good food and even knows how to pamper a cat. Mrrrow”

The black cat licked his paw and started wiping his face in satisfaction. Akira chuckled and went back to his studying. Morgana gave a cursory look at the work his friend has been doing and then to the phone off in the corner.

“Talked to everyone?” He asked.

“Mm, not everyone. Ann and Ryiji didn’t text back; I assume it’s exams. Makoto and Haru didn’t answer, got to chat with Yusuke for a bit before he had to go to sleep. School trip tomorrow.” Akira answered, not looking up from his work as he turned the page in his notebook to a clean sheet.

“Odd, I thought exams were over?” Morgana dipped his head to the side.

“For me maybe, Shujin still has one day left.” Akira pointed out.

“Huh, a couple of days off, how strange.” Morgana notes, catching the phone’s screen and then looking to Akira. “How’s Hifumi?”

his words cause Akira to pause in his writing briefly before resuming.

“She’s fine, just texted to see how I was doing.” He smiled. “It was good to talk to her.”

“You talk to her every day, right before bed. On the dot.” Morgana remarked as he walks over to the phone, careful to not disrupt Akira’s books. Placing his paw on the phone. “I don’t think I’ve seen you smile so much like you do when you see her name on your phone.”

“She is my girlfriend, Morgana,” Akira noted.

“I know, I just didn’t think you’d be this attached.” Morgana rolled his eyes.

Akira looked up from his studies to stare blankly at the black cat.

“Ann.”

Morgana merped, jolting up. “T-that’s not-” He stammered. “That’s not like this!”

Akira grinned, patting the cat before going back to his work. “Sure.”

Morgana huffed, not wishing to humiliate himself further, he storms off the desk and heads to bed in his cat tower.

* * *

Akira found it hard to wake up the following morning. It took a combination of Morgana’s yowling and his own parents’ forceful assistance to get him dressed, fed and out the door. Akira stayed up far too late studying, but he managed to get a good batch of notes done. So the all-nighter was not a complete waste of time. Still, it was hard to keep his eyes open. He couldn’t nap in class as he could in Kawakami’s. He’d get written up if he did that, something his parents did not need to see.

He was rolling his neck, getting a satisfying crack to try and wake him up before he finally arrived at the school. The building was small, but it had everything the teachers and students needed to complete the curriculum, however good it may be, it wasn’t Shujin. When he first moved back, it was a hurtled to overcome when he started school. He found himself getting lost because the floor plan was different from Shujin; he remembered having a student council rep walk him around multiple times before he finally got the floor plan. He felt sorry for the rep.

Still, despite getting used to coming here, it wasn’t the same. Shujin had all his friends, where he met Ann and Ryuji. Where the phantom thieves began, granted where that would have led them was far from pleasant but it brought them closer together. He missed them; he missed everyone.

He missed Hifumi.

* * *

On his way home, his phone vibrated. Taking the phone out, he expected to to be the group chat or maybe a text from one of his friends but nope. He sees the red square of ‘one’ atop Hifumi’s picture. Smiling, he was about to open it when the phone buzzed to life again, the number changing rapidly from ‘one’ to ‘five’. He had a feeling of what that was from.

Opening up the chat, he began to read the flood of messages from Hifumi.

-

 **Queen Hifumi:** Hello, Akira, how was school? Sorry for the early text but I got too impatient and wanted to talk to you.

 **Queen Hifumi:** wait, what?

 **Queen Hifumi:** AKIRA

 **Queen Hifumi:** WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY NAME

 **Queen Hifumi:** AKIRA

-

Akira snickered at the texts. He starts typing up his reply before Hifumi got more irate.

-

 **General Akira:** Yes, my queen?

 **Queen Hifumi:** YOU TOO?

 **Queen Hifumi:** Akira, why?

 **General Akira:** Because I thought it’d be funny to see what your reaction would be.

**Queen Hifumi: _Sent photo._**

**General Akira:** Awww, so cute.

 **Queen Hifumi:** Why must you be so cruel?

 **General Akira:** Sorry, can’t help but love to see you flustered.

 **Queen Hifumi:** You’re so awful.

 **Queen Hifumi:** my protege, my friend, my boyfriend; please stop.

 **General Akira:** As you command.

 **Hifumi:** Testing.

 **Hifumi:** Thank you.

 **King Akira:** no problem.

 **Hifumi:** AKIRA

 **King Akira:** Kidding.

 **Akira:** there.

 **Hifumi:** If I weren’t miles away from you, I’d smack you over the head with my Shogi board.

 **Akira:** then you’ll kiss it better?

 **Hifumi:** then I’ll kiss it better.

 **Akira:** Aw.

 **Akira:** Love you.

 **Hifumi:** I love you too.

 **Hifumi:** How was class?

 **Akira:** same as usual.

 **Akira:** kept to myself and overheard a few others talking about me.

 **Hifumi:** Oh no, I’m sorry to hear.

 **Akira:** It’s nothing.

 **Hifumi:** Are you sure?

 **Hifumi:** You are quite far from your typical support structure.

 **Akira:** I know, don’t worry. I still have my parents, although I will never tell them what was said or what they’re doing.

 **Hifumi:** Is there a reason?

 **Akira:** My parents have been through enough.

 **Akira:** I don’t want them to worry or feel guilty.

 **Hifumi:** Akira…

 **Akira:** I also have Morgana, he’s alright enough to help vent too.

 **Hifumi:** Maybe, still.

 **Hifumi:** I wish I were there with you.

 **Hifumi:** I could hold you close, pet your head as I soothe the worries of the day.

 **Akira:** that sounds nice.

 **Hifumi:** right, I plan to do such a thing in the future.

 **Akira:** the future?

 **Hifumi:** Yes…

 **Hifumi:** Marriage, an apartment…

 **Akira:** Hifumi?

 **Hifumi:** Maybe a family?

-

Akira stopped typing. He stared at his phone for a solid minute as he processed what he was staring at. He had long since sat down on a bench at a bus stop to text Hifumi back, so he wasn’t bumping into people. He was glad he chose to sit because this was something. Not like he didn’t think about it either, Ryuji once asked him if he thought of marriage and he did. He wanted to get married one day, to the person he loved, and he was sure it was going to be Hifumi. But family? That was something else entirely.

They’ve only been dating a few months, and even then, Hifumi had declared that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Akira was sure of the same thing. He wanted the whole nine yards but talking about it now, it started to flair up some uncomfortable feelings that Akira never had to deal with before. He’s been trans since middle school; it was his decision not to get surgeries of any kind or hormones. He didn’t hate his body, he was okay with it, and that was a luxury, not many other trans people had. Haru didn’t like her body; she got the full package when it came to transitioning; Ryuji didn’t like how big his chest was so he got surgery; Futaba was bullied and teased for not looking like a girl and acting like one, so they had to transition. Akira never needed any of that to be who he was.  
He was okay with it all, to him as long as he held onto his pronouns and made it known that he was a man, then it didn’t matter. So why was it now that he started to question himself? In all these years he’s been out, why is it now he’s getting just intense Dysphoria?

The phone vibrating shook Akira out of his trance, and he looked back to see three new messages. How had he not noticed until the third message?

-

 **Hifumi:** Akira?

 **Hifumi:** Did I say something wrong?

 **Hifumi:** I’m sorry, don’t be mad.

 **Akira:** I’m not mad, just stunted.

 **Hifumi:** I’m sorry, I did drop quite a serious topic, didn’t I?

 **Akira:** Yeah, kind of.

 **Akira:** Just

 **Akira:** You know I’m trans right?

 **Hifumi:** I am aware of it.

 **Akira:** I have girl bits

 **Hifumi:** I assumed as much.

 **Akira:** You are a cis girl

 **Hifumi:** Is that a problem?

 **Akira:** Connect the dots

 **Akira:** I can’t give you a child

 **Akira:** I don’t

 **Akira:** I don’t have the parts

 **Akira:** And even if I did, I still wouldn’t be able too

 **Hifumi:** Akira…

 **Akira:** I can’t give you a family

 **Akira:** I wasn’t born right.

 **Hifumi:** That’s not true, don’t talk like that to yourself.

 **Akira:** But it’s true

 **Akira:** I’m not a real man

 **Akira:** I can’t

-

Before Akira could type more, his phone started ringing. The number was Hifumi’s. He watched as it buzzed a second time, debating on if he should let it go to voice, but felt his gut swell with guilty as he let the third ring go through. He took the call, and with a shaky voice, answered.

“Yeah?”

“Where are you now?” Hifumi asked, her voice sounding solid.

Akira looked around him, seeing only people waiting for the bus.

“At a bus stop.” He answered.

Hifumi sighed. “Go somewhere secluded but be careful.”

Akira got up, keeping Hifumi on the line as he moved away from the crowd. He found an alleyway, did a close inspection, and let out a shaky sigh.

“Akira?” Hifumi called.

“I’m here. I’m safe.” Akira reported.

“Good.” Hifumi went silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Akira, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel insecure or to flair up your Dysphoria. That was careless of me.”

“It’s not your fault.” Akira quickly added. “It was on me too. I got too worked up over nothing.”

“Akira, I said I wanted a family. You jumped to the conclusion that it was your responsibility to prove that.” She shushed Akira. “I should have stopped your line of thought with adoption.”

“Such an obvious choice, I forgot, huh?” Akira let out a weak laugh.

“It’s not always obvious. I’m sorry I brought it up.” Hifumi sucked in a breath. “Don’t blame yourself, Akira, it’s fine. A family is a family, no matter how we get it.”

There was a brief silence between the two before Akira broke it.

“What would you gave done if you saw me like a real man?” He blurted out.

“Wha- Akira, where is this coming from?” Hifumi questioned.

“Just,” His grip tightened around the phone. “Just answer, please?”

Hifumi went silent, Akira pressed the phone closer to his ear. Trying to see if she hung up or was whispering but neither were true, he heard her light breathing but nothing else.

“I wouldn’t think to worry about a hypothetical.” Hifumi started. “Because you are a real man, Akira.”

“Hifumi-”

“We may have the same parts, but that doesn’t make you any less of a man. Nor does your ability to give me a family in the future. Akira, I love you just the way you are. There isn’t any way you can change that would affect that, I don’t care if your trans and what you can and cannot provide." Hifumi choked on her words and continued. "I want you! I want to marry you someday. I want to move in with you. I want to argue over bills, worry about money, worry about what food we could afford.”

Akira bit his lip, trying to contain himself before he lost it over the phone, but Hifumi didn’t stop. Her voice was starting to crack; he hears her choking back tears as she spoke again.

“I want to be with you, Akira. I don’t care what deficiencies you think you have. I love you. Please, don’t think I don’t because the only truth is that I one day, when we graduate. I’m going to whisk you away and take you back to Tokyo with me. We’ll be happy here, you and me, all our friends and down the line, our family.”

“Hifumi…” Akira choked out.

“It’s okay to cry. I’m crying too.” She managed to say before she finally let herself cave.

It would be a pathetic sight to anyone walking back to hear a teen crying in an alley. They would have thought he was crying over a breakup or losing a family member, but it was the opposite. He was crying because he hadn’t realized just how much Hifumi cared. He knew they both loved each other but to hear her commitment to him, bearing her heart out to him simply because his dysphoria flared up and wanted to ruin his happiness. Instead, he found new hope and a future to look forward too.

“Where will we live? I don’t think we’ll find an apartment for cheap after graduation.” Akira wiped his tears, voice still shaky.

“You can live with me, or we can stay in the attic at Leblanc. You could work there until my Shogi career takes off again. We’ll have all the money to pick and choose.” Hifumi sniffled.

“How many kids?” Akira asked, his face twisting into a smile.

“One or two maybe, but who knows, maybe more?” Hifumi chuckled.

“We’ll need a bigger place, Leblanc wouldn’t be great. Boss would kill us if the kids destroyed anything.” Akira pointed out.

“You’re right.” Hifumi giggled.

The pair settled into a comfortable silence, neither speaking and neither wanting to disturb the silence. Moments go by before Hifumi speaks up.

“That a promise?”

Akira nodded his head. “Yes, a promise.”

“Then we both got to work hard to graduate; we both have to save as well,” Hifumi noted.

“I have a lot of money saved over from mementos, that’s a good headstart on funds.” Akira chuckled. “We’ll buy the biggest house.”

“We will.”

“I love you, Akira.”

“I love you too, Hifumi.”


End file.
